Third Period Comeback Falls Short, as Bears Lose to RPI, 6-5

TROY, NY - Freshman Sean McMonagle (Oakville, ONT) and junior Jeff Prough (Farmington Hills, MI) each scored in the third period, but the Brown men's ice hockey team (9-13-6, 5-12-4) couldn't net the equalizer as it dropped a 6-5 decision to RPI (10-15-8, 6-10-5) in an ECACHL game on Friday evening at Houston Fieldhouse.

The two teams played a wild first 20 minutes that saw each team score twice, on three total power-play goals and a short-handed tally. Senior Sean Dersch (Edmonton, ALB) gave Brown a 1-0 lead at 7:16 of the first, scoring a short-handed goal. After an RPI player misplayed the puck at the blueline, Dersch and sophomore Sean Muncy (Chesterfield, MO) took advantage of a developing two-on-one. Dersch buried a low shot from the left face-off circle that beat Mathias Lange far-side and lighting the lamp before popping out of the net. But with the Bears celebrating the goal, RPI picked up the lose puck and skate the other way after the officials failed to signal a goal. The two teams played for another 15 seconds before the play was blown dead. The referee conferred with the goal judge and his assistants, before signaling for the goal and the 1-0 Brown lead.

However, RPI knotted the game at 1-1 at 13:34, scoring on a power-play when Seth Klerer knocked in the rebound of his own shot. Prough (Farmington Hills, MI) gave Brown a 2-1 lead just 2:24 later, scoring off assists from juniors Brian McNary (Edmonton, ALB), his sixth straight game with a point, and Sean Hurley (Rutland, VT).

RPI again knotted the game, scoring on another power-play at 17:11 as the two teams headed into the locker room tied at 2-2.

The Engineers scored back-to-back goals less than five minutes into the second period to take a 4-2 lead at 4:43. The first one came at 4:19 when freshman Dan Rosen (Syosset, NY) fell back into the net with the puck after making the initial save on Kirk MacDonald. Just 24 seconds later, Erik Burgdoerfer beat Rosen glove-side from the top of the left face-off circle.

The Bears came to within one 46 seconds later when junior Chris Poli (Medfield, MA) knocked in the rebound of a shot by freshman Aaron Volpatti (Revelstoke, BC) at 5:29.

RPI got one back before the end of the period when Garett Vassel knocked home a lose puck at 17:24. Rosen made a stop on Jonathan Ornelas, but the puck popped over his head and was sliding towards the goal-line. Rosen tried to get back to cover it, but before he could get there, Vassel poked the puck home to give the Engineers a 5-3 lead.

Sophomore Mark Sibbald (Ridgeway, ONT) replaced Rosen at the start of the third period and Kevin Broad increased RPI's lead to 6-3 at 7:35, scoring on a breakaway.

But, just 1:03 later and with the Engineers on a power-play, Prough tallied his second of the game to bring Brown to within 6-4. Prough blocked an RPI shot and got the puck over to Dersch, before breaking in on a two-on-one. Dersch crossed the puck back to Prough and he beat Lange top-shelf with his second of the game and 17th of the year.

With 5:46 left in the game, Prough collected the puck off an RPI turnover and fed freshman Sean McMonagle (Oakville, ONT) with a centering pass. McMonagle had the easy tap-in for his third goal of the year and sixth point in as many games.

Brown earned a power-play with 3:23 remaining and put sustained pressure on the RPI defense for nearly the entire 3:23. After the power-play expired, the Bears pulled Sibbald with 58 seconds remaining, but they couldn't net the tying goal.

Rosen finished with 12 saves in forty minutes, while Sibbald made 10 saves in relief. Lange recorded 32 saves for RPI. The Bears close out the regular season tomorrow night when they face Union in a 7:00 p.m. contest. Brown, which can no longer host a first round series will look to finish the regular season with a win before heading into the playoffs.